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After years of rampant password sharing, Netflix is finally beginning to crack down.
Following months of speculation, the streaming giant has unveiled their plan for how they plan in combating password sharing and it’s a doozy.
According to Netflix’s Help Center, as part of their new rules, whatever device a user is using Netflix on must log in on their home Wi-Fi network once every 31 days or else their account will be blocked.
For example, if you’re using Netflix on your phone while commuting to work, you must make sure your phone signs into the Wifi that your account is registered to at least once a month or else it will be blocked.
Netflix has estimated that over 100 million users worldwide are using the service through the login credentials of someone else. It hopes that by putting an end to account sharing, it will bring a new infusion of revenue to the company.
It’s essentially the only way that Netflix can make meaningful subscriber additions in North America, where the service currently sees its highest share of market penetration. [via The Streamable]
The move comes following a year that saw Netflix report a loss of subscribers for the first time in over a decade.
Netflix wasn’t the only streaming service to have a tumultuous 2022, though, as the industry as a whole appears to be going through a bit of an overhaul now that the entertainment business readjusts following the down period of 2020 and 2021.
In 2022, not only did three seperate films make over $1 billion — Avatar: The Way of Water, Top Gun: Maverick, and Jurassic World: Dominion — but a litany of other projects such as Everything Everywhere All At Once ($100M+) gave an indication that the movie theater business is experiencing a resurgence.